Tag Archives: US Healthcare System

The Threat From A New And Growing Anxiety In The United States Today: A Physician’s Perspective

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2017/02/16/the-threat-from-a-new-and-growing-anxiety-in-the-united-states-today-a-physicians-perspective/#7ce8667f6a92

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This week I heard from a student in her third year of medical school. To date, she has borrowed more than $100,000 to fund her education. She is in the top 10% of her class, with honors in all of her subjects and high scores on her national exams. She would be a valued resident in the most competitive specialty training programs. Her goal is to become a primary care physician and offer her expertise to a diverse set of patients, leveraging the multiple languages she speaks fluently. But because she was born in a Middle Eastern country, she has a problem.

She wrote to me that she suddenly faces uncertainty about her status in the U.S. and about the possibility she will be forced to leave without completing her final year of medical school. Were that to happen, she would have wasted the time and the money she has already had invested. She accepted the reality that as someone from another nation, she would need to be exceptional to fulfill her dream. But now she worries that she could be required to leave no matter how well she performs.

And the same is true for nurses, laboratory technicians and doctors born in other countries but already established in practice in the U.S. The rules they will need to live by in the future are unclear and ever-changing. Which countries will be impacted? Will the requirements to leave apply to individuals on student visas and green cards and even to naturalized citizens?


How Anxiety Is Eclipsing Fear

Imagine how you would feel going to sleep at night worried about what you will read in the newspaper the next morning. Everything you value is at risk, including your health.

 

Keeping Perspective During Turbulent Times

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http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/blog/2017/feb/keeping-perspective?omnicid=EALERT1163749&mid=henrykotula@yahoo.com

At times of dramatic change in a nation’s history, fear and anxiety can become pervasive and overwhelming. Troubling visions of authoritarianism or chaos, of political persecution, and even civil war disturb our waking thoughts and nightly dreams. It can be emotionally, almost physically, paralyzing.

As Mark Twain allegedly quipped, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Looking for those historical rhymes can provide perspective at times of disquiet, such as this. This may be particularly true for younger members of our attentive public, who have not lived through, and emerged safely from, some of the dark periods we have experienced as a country.

America’s 241 years of nationhood have been tumultuous. Events have repeatedly challenged the viability of our democracy.

Varied as these events were, they show how frequently crises test our democracy, and how resilient it has proven over time. They also show how important it is for defenders of our freedoms to remain vigilant. No civilization—no matter how mighty or seemingly stable—is invulnerable. All decline and pass eventually from the scene. Only the values and courage of a free citizenry and its leaders assure that we will continue to confront and rise to the challenges that we will inevitably encounter.

A critical role in preserving our values and our institutions falls to nongovernmental organizations that constitute our civil society. These institutions include our churches, synagogues, and mosques, our universities, and our many charitable and philanthropic organizations. The Commonwealth Fund is one of these. As an endowed philanthropy, The Commonwealth Fund has for 99 years enjoyed the extraordinary privilege of economic independence. Currently, the Fund is dedicated to creating a high performance health system in the United States. In pursuit of that goal, it will continue to provide an independent, nonpartisan, and objective view of our health care system, and of the events and developments that may affect the health and health care of Americans.